New Delhi, March 10 India has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh under an existing agreement, and a request from Dhaka for additional supplies will be considered based on the availability of the fuel and market conditions, government sources said on Tuesday.
It has been learned that India has not made any decision on the request by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to provide an additional 5,000 tonnes of diesel from the Numaligarh refinery in Assam.
Bangladesh has been facing a shortage of petrol and diesel due to disruptions in oil supplies following the West Asia crisis.
The sources said that Dhaka's request for additional diesel supplies will be considered in the context of market conditions and availability.
New Delhi has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh under the 'India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline' initiative, which was operationalized in 2017.
India has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh commercially from the Numaligarh Refinery Limited under this initiative, the sources said.
Under this commercial framework, India is to supply 1,80,000 tonnes of diesel to the neighboring country annually.
The diesel supply is part of the regular ongoing energy trade between the two countries, the sources said, adding that fuel availability in India is being "closely monitored."
Earlier, Bangladesh claimed that India would send 5,000 tonnes of diesel under a long-term agreement.
However, the sources said that the diesel being sent is part of the existing mechanism and not part of the request for additional supplies.
In response to a deepening energy crisis, Bangladesh has implemented a series of drastic measures, including the closure of public and private universities starting Monday.
To stabilize dwindling supplies, the government has also introduced strict daily limits on fuel sales following panic buying at fuel stations last week.